Pulitzer Prize winner, Run-DMC rapper among speakers at Ball State this fall

Pulitzer Prize winning author Sheryl WuDunn and Joseph “Rev. Run” Simmons, front man of the hip hop group Run-DMC, are among the speakers scheduled to appear at Ball State during the fall semester.

WuDunn’s presentation "A Path Appears: Transforming Lives, Creative Opportunity" is part of the 2014-2015 Excellence in Leadership (EIL) Speaker Series. Her presentation is at 8 p.m. Sept. 29 in Emens Auditorium. WuDunn will speak about leadership, transforming lives and capitalizing on our skills as individuals.

WuDunn and her husband, Nicholas Kristof, won the Pulitzer Prize for International Reporting in 1990 for their coverage of the Tiananmen Square protests in 1989.

She is the author of three books, including “Half the Sky: Turning Oppression into Opportunity for Women Worldwide,” which is about the challenges facing women and girls around the globe. It was featured on the Oprah Winfrey Show and included in a popular PBS documentary series.

Simmons of Run-DMC will present "A Conversation with Rev. Run" at 7:30 p.m. Oct. 27 in Pruis Hall as part of the EIL series. He will speak about leadership, perseverance, innovation and success.

Simmons is widely credited for ushering rap music into mainstream culture. But his influence hardly ended with Run-DMC. He also built a fashion empire, wrote three best-sellers, starred in multiple successful television shows and became a spiritual leader and source of inspiration for his millions of fans.

Other notable speakers coming to campus this fall include:

• Author Wes Moore, who penned this year’s Freshman Common Reader, “The Other Wes Moore,” will speak at 7:30 p.m. Sept. 16 in Emens Auditorium as part of the university’s Freshman Connections program. His book tells the story of a generation of two boys trying to find their way of a tough neighborhood in Baltimore.

• As part of the David Letterman Distinguished Professional Lecture and Workshop Series, Eric Kuhn will discuss his rise to become a social media agent in “From Social Media Intern to Hollywood Trailblazer.” His presentation begins at 7:30 p.m. Sept. 17 in Pruis Hall. Serving as the first audience interaction producer at CNN, Kuhn developed partnerships with Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and Foursquare. Today he is a representative for emerging technology companies and provides services to some of the biggest writers, actors and producers in the entertainment business.

• Brian Storm, former director of multimedia at MSNBC.com and now president of MediaStorm, a multimedia production studio based in New York, will discuss digital storytelling and the cinematic narrative at 7:30 p.m. Nov. 20 in the Pittenger Student Center Ballroom. Using examples from his personal production company, Storm will show how storytelling is evolving with today’s technology. His presentation is also part of the Letterman series.